Need to Know: Di Francesco's press conference ahead of Chievo

The game at the Stadio Olimpico gets underway at 18:00 CEST.

Di Francesco began his press conference by making a short statement about events in Liverpool, and the forthcoming second leg against the Premier League side.

How would you judge the performance in Liverpool?

“We were expecting a different result, at least in terms of our ability to stay in the game. It didn’t go that way, but tomorrow we have an important match against Chievo: I hope that the lads are burning to make amends for the lost match in the Champions League and will be able to throw themselves into the four games we have remaining in the league, one of which is against Chievo.”

What sort of opponents are Chievo?

“They are an opponent used to the dogfight for survival, used to battling in the league, with lots of experienced players in their squad. We have to win though: we need to bring home the three points, aware that we have struggled in the past against teams that played defensively against us at the Olimpico. We need to score as soon as possible and be more incisive in front of goal, while of course looking to avoid conceding ourselves.”

Do the flaws seen against Liverpool reflect well on Klopp, or badly on you?

“We played well in the first 25 minutes, then when [Sadio] Mane had his chance we started to lose our way and struggle. We weren’t determined enough in some one-on-one situations: Liverpool were superior physically and if we want to compete at a certain level we will need to find our way again and regain our competitive spirit, the one seen against Barcelona and in other moments this season. We fell off the pace and lost our nerve a little, which cannot happen again. We’re playing in the Champions League semi-finals, it’s extraordinary: we need to be more confident and braver going into certain one-on-ones.”

Will you rotate the squad in the league?

“Perotti and Strootman are out for us. Diego may be unavailable for a couple of weeks. Kevin has badly bruised ribs, he’s not been able to train and won’t be with us tomorrow. I hope to have him back for the Liverpool game. In terms of rotating the squad I will have a look today at how the lads are physically recovering, and what condition they are in both physically and psychologically. Obviously I will make some changes.”

Is Schick ready to play in a 4-3-3?

“He’s ready and I will make my assessment. He’s in top physical shape, and he may well play.”

Would you make the same decisions again if you could repeat last Tuesday’s match?

“Those who don’t have faith should stay at home. It seems absurd to me to even think about not going for it in this second leg, it winds me up to even talk about it. What should we do, not bother playing? My focus is on Chievo first and foremost though. Whether the choices made were good or bad, we need to build on what we’ve done which has led us to this semi-final.

"I still believe in this team and I know that they have what it takes to achieve these things. I hope that the atmosphere at the stadium can help spur them on. Any problems that you have, take them up with me, but let’s leave the lads out of it so they can focus on working to achieve something important between now and the end of the season."

Is there a risk that the team underestimates tomorrow’s match?

“It already happened to us against Fiorentina and then you guys congratulated us because we had our minds on Barcelona. I believe in this squad’s growth, and in their ability to treat every game in the same way and as though they were equally important. This is the strength of a team that needs to get better. We need to treat the Chievo match like a semi-final. Failure is not an option for us; digging ourselves out of that mess would be even harder.”

How do you go about motivating the team to pull off an upset next Wednesday?

“Firstly, we’re talking too much about Liverpool and not enough about Chievo. I don’t want to repeat myself. They were better than us one-on-one. Sometimes you need that mental aspect on the pitch, which we have shown to have over this year. In England we lacked continuity, but we need to find it again straight away: there’s no time to lose. In the meantime we need to focus on winning this match against Chievo and then we can think about Liverpool, concentrating on being competitive and roared on by the fans that will be at our side.”

Could Silva and Peres play tomorrow?

“Silva has shown he’s ready, he played a very intelligent game in Ferrara. He’s done his part and shown that he is a player I can trust. Bruno Peres is ready too.”

Looking ahead to the return leg in the UCL, Roy Keane has come out and said that if he was a Roma player he would retire…

“I don’t know what Keane is up to nowadays, but I don’t need to give any response to someone who is clearly on the other side of the fence and has an interest in saying these things, which were also said before the second leg against Barcelona anyway. His words mean nothing to me, and in any case the right way to respond will be on the pitch and not here exchanging words. We need to remember how far we’ve come. On Tuesday Salah was the difference, I hope that in the return leg it will be one of my own.”

How do you explain the mystery of the difference between Roma’s performances in Serie A and in the UCL?

“When you’re playing in two different competitions and you go a long way in one, it may be that you start to struggle in the other. Napoli showed how that can happen when they were knocked out of the Champions League. Over the years Juve have been the squad most used to doing well and being consistent across both competitions.

"Obviously we could have done better in the league, and we’ve had an extraordinary run in the UCL. I repeat: this season’s not over yet and I would wait until it is before passing judgement on how Roma’s year has gone.”